


A Cliche Highschool Romance

by YourDadProbably



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Humanstuck, M/M, also kankri, some bitchy/douchyness (lets pretend thats a word)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-12
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-03-07 06:31:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 11,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3164786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourDadProbably/pseuds/YourDadProbably
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave Strider is a total douche, who hangs out with other total douches. Karkat Vantas is an anti-social nerd who is new in town. He meets Dave, and his romcom fantasies start to get to him. DaveKat shenanigans ensue.<br/>This story is no longer being written! So sorry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to 'A Cliche HighSchool Romance'! This story is being written by yours truly, and my wonderful Matesprit, so updates may be quite spaced out and long, or we might have a chapter every day. I hope you enjoy our writing, and comments are always very welcome (encouraged, even).

I'm Dave Strider, cool kid extraordinaire. I'm the most awesomely ironic high-schooler you will ever meet. I'd go on and on about my personality and shit, but I'm guessing you already know all about that. Besides I'm gonna be late for school; I don't have time for that kind of crap.

I grabbed a comb, running it through my hair as I covered my eyes with my shades. I slipped on a red, gear themed hoodie, putting my backpack over my shoulder and jumping on my skateboard. I left the house without saying bye to my bro, I never do. He doesn't seem to care much. I glided easily across the streets to where my high school was; it wasn't a hard path to follow.

When I reached said school, I stopped, kicking my skateboard up and tucking it under my shoulder. I nodded at a few people (only when they said 'hi' or waved, though) until I had reached the stairs where my friends always hung out. We were like the Plastics in Mean Girls, only waycooler. Our group was made up by me, John Egbert—the dorky nerd who was only really there because he and I went way back—, Vriska Serket—who's a total bitch and we'd like to get rid of her, only we're pretty sure she could destroy us with the snap of her fingers—, Jade Harley—cheerleader—, Gamzee Makara –douche-y stoner—, and Sollux Captor—a total nerd who we let join the group so we could copy his homework, but he's both surprisingly cool and a hacker who could easily blow up our computers in eight seconds.

"Sup,"I greeted, taking my rightful place leaning against the wall.

Sollux pulled out the Science homework on instinct, and handed it to Dave.

"Wow, Sollux. I'm offended that you automatically assume that I didn't do my homework!"

"You never do your homework."

"True, but still." I smirked, opening up my backpack to pull out the needed materials to copy down the homework. Jade had been smiling brightly and bouncing slightly for quite a while, so I finally asked, "What's going on, Jade?"

"Okay so you know Feferi Piexes?" I noticed Sollux perk up. To fill you in real fast, Feferi was a cheerleader, totally hot, and had a great personality. Sollux also had the hots for her. "She just promoted me to co-captain!" She squealed. "Isn't that great?!"

"It definitely is!" Vriska said, in that tone that made everything seem sarcastic and mocking. I gave her a quick glare as Jades excitement quieted down.

"Dude,"I gave her an accusing look.

"What? I'm just agreeing with her!"

"Why do you have to say everything that… mean?"

"You literally bullied Sollux here into joining our group so that you didn't have to do your science homework, and now you're accusing me of being mean?"

"Sollux likes it here—,"

"I do!"

"—and I'm just asking you to watch your tone." Before Vriska could say whatever remark she was going to, Gamzee stepped forward and put his arms around both of their shoulders, giggling like an idiot.

"Why don't we all just motherfuckin' cool down and slam a cold faygo?"

Dave shoved his arm away. "Nobody wants any of your nasty soda."

"Tavbro likes it." Vriska scoffed.

"Tavros is the most undignified human—no, it'd be embarrassing to refer to him as the same species as me—thing that I've ever come in contact with."

"He's not that motherfucking bad! He's a great guy."

"I think he needs a little push. Down the stairs, that is." She cackled. Yes, cackled. Not laughed, not snickered, she cackled like a goddamn witch.

"Vriska!"John shouted, his voice full of offense, "Tavros is in a wheelchair, you don't say those kinds of things about people in wheelchairs!" She rolled her eyes as the rest of the group agreed with John.

And at that moment, a kid walked by. He was short, with puffy dark brown hair and boring brown eyes with dark circles under them. He looked like he was trying to hide his face in the oversized turtle neck sweater that he was wearing. He walked quickly past us, but halted stiffly in his tracks when Gamzee said, "Hey? Who the fuck are you?" He didn't say it in an intimidating tone, it was just his usual 'oh heeeeey motherfucker how's it going wanna go slam a fuckin' faygo?'tone of voice. The kid looked back at us, glaring.

"Why do you care?" His voice was surprisingly rough, and angry.

"'Cause. I know everybody here, but I don't know you. That means you're new."

He stayed silent for a moment, before turning away and heading up the stairs as he said, "I'm Karkat. Karkat Vantas."


	2. Karkat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a pretty short chapter, but I have a lot of them written and just waiting so I'm going to be posting them all tonight.

"I'm Karkat, Karkat Vantas."

I sped up, dashing up the stairs and clutching the little piece of paper that had all the classes that I would have to sit through this year written down. I tried to forget the group of people that were obviously the douche bag group. The guy that talked to me was freakishly tall, and smelled of cigar smoke. Not to mention the creepy face paint covering his face entirely. I shuddered at the memory and started thinking of everyone else in that small group.

The guy with different colored glasses seemed alright, or at least not harmful. There was a boy with black hair and dorky glasses, a girl with blue in her blonde hair who was leaning against the dorky glasses guy, and an over excited girl standing right next to what seemed to be the leader of the group. The leader looked like a total douche bag, I mean come on, he was wearing shades.Inside. He had really pale skin, which would probably be my skin color, if I didn't have naturally dark skin. I stared down at my paper and back at the classroom numbers, trying not to attract attention to myself. The last thing I needed was more people asking who I was. Not like that mattered anyway. The first class on my list was math, room 413. Great, my worst subject first thing in the morning. Oh this will be fun.

I reached the room with about 5 minutes left, so I got up to the teacher to say something along the lines of'hey I'm the new kid, please don't make me introduce myself in front of this entire class, because I will fucking die if that happens.' Okay maybe not quite that but the idea was there. The teacher told me that there was a spot in the back and directed me over there. I put my stuff down and sat at the desk to look around the room. It was fairly big; enough so to hold twenty or thirty desks, the teacher's desk, and about ten extremely old computers in the back. The lights hung from the roof, brightening up the dull gray walls, with pictures of—what are those, planets? They look like fake planets—hanging. The bell rang, its loud pitch refusing to stop for at least ten seconds. Lifting my head up, I saw the douche bag kid walk through the door—ok, I guess it's not fair to call him 'the douche bag kid' when I know nothing about him, but come on. Shades. Inside!—and sit next to me. His pale blond hair was short and his bangs were pushed to one side. He seriously was the doucheyest person I'd seen at this school so far.

"Hey Kitkat, right?" His voice was smoother, and softer than I would have expected from him.

"You know, when I told you my name earlier, I'm pretty damn sure I said Karkat, not Kitkat. Wait, let me check, yep. I said Karkat. Kindly go fuck yourself."

"Jeez, I was just saying hi, don't have to act all defensive,"

"Ugh," I groaned. My curiosity was strong, so I said, "Well, you know my fucking name, so what's yours? Or do I have to call you something else? What about insufferable prick? That would work."

"Actually I've been called that before but—."

"Gee, what a surprise."

He looked angry for a moment, but he breathed in and cracked a crooked smile. "But the name's Dave Strider, the cool kid who runs this school," he leaned back in his chair, trying to look cool, and kind of ho—No.

'Karkat,' I mentally screamed at myself, 'it's been half an hour, you can't possibly think he's hot. Plus if you fall for him, he's not gonna like you back. You're a freak, an outsider, and he's the 'cool kid' (or so he says), he probably has lots of girls and guys falling for him. This is not a romcom! He's not gonna change himself for you so what's the point?'

"Great, now you can do whatever you want. And if you don't mind, I'm actually going to pay attention to the class now," I turned my head to the front, getting out my math journal and jotting down the starter problem, so I could start trying to figure it out.

I suspected he had just rolled his eyes and focused on the front of the room as well. I can tell that this is going to be the hardest class; with all the work, and Strider sitting right next to me. Maybe I can ask to switch seats. Or classes. Or states.

The teacher talked for the whole period about exponents and shit we already learned in eighth grade. I will never understand why highschoolers have to learn the same shit as middleschoolers. I don't know if it was because I'm new, or if this was how it's always taught, but the class was taking forever. My eyes glanced to the side to look at Dave every now and then, and to my surprise he wasn't even working. He has his phone in his lap, and was pretending to be taking notes. That bastard. Well it is what the dimwit douche bags at my old school acted like, so it shouldn't be that surprising.

The freckles on his face stood out compared to his skin, and there were a lot of them, making him look somewhat cute. Only somewhat though. His hair was platinum blonde, almost white. Like mine, before I dyed it. I don't plan on telling anyone that it's dyed, that didn't work out well at my old school. He had a piercing on his lip, just a small metal band circling back into his mouth. I turned my head back to my work, hoping I hadn't been staring for too long, and also hoping he didn't see me staring. I could feel my face getting hot. Well fuck. My attention went back to the work, trying to force the image of Dave Strider out of my head. 'Tough luck, dumbass. What part of 'this isn't a fucking romcom' did you not understand?'


	3. Dave

I was very aware that that Karkat kid was glaring at me throughout the entire class time, so of course I pulled out my phone to distract myself from his stare. I opened up my messages and began to text Jade, during her English class. Eventually she stopped answering me, so I figured she got caught. Typical Jade, she was terrible at hiding her texting, she laughed at everything, and that gave it away.

When the bell finally rang, I shoved everything into my backpack and left the room. I passed by Jade during this passing time, so I decided to ask her then. "Hey," I greeted when I saw her.

"You got my phone taken away, you dickhead!" Jade yelled, but I could tell she wasn't really mad, otherwise her tone would've been much more scary.

"Your fault, not mine." I shrugged.

"Ugh, why did you have to text me? Next time you should just text your boyfriend."

"John is not my boyfriend, and he is also 'not gay'."

She scoffed, crossing her arms. "Not gay, my ass. He's almost as gay as you are." She smirked.

I rolled my eyes, ruffling her hair, "I'm going to class, later dork." She giggled as I walked away.

Next was my music class, which we called "Rock Band Class", though the official name for it was just "Band". I played the drums, and I was pretty damn good at it; though I preferred to work with my turntables. When I opened the door, Vriska was already sitting in our usual spot, fixing the tuning on her electric guitar. "Hey, loser," she said when I sat down by her.

I scoffed, "I bet you call all of your cool friends that."

"I don't have any cool friends; all of my "friends" are complete losers."

"Wow, Vris. I'm honestly offended right now."

"You sound like Mr. Vantas," Vriska rolled her eyes.

"Did you just say Mr. Vantas?" I looked up from Vriska to the seat directly in front of us, where Karkat was turning around, a look of terror on his face. Jeez, this kid was hard to figure out.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Oh my god, please tell me this is a joke. Uh, what does he look like?"

Vriska looked at him weird, "Why do you care?"

"Does he," Karkat paused, trying to put his words together; "Does he look sort of like me?"

"Holy shit," Vriska looked him over, "he looks a lot like you."

"Fuck, of all the fucking schools for him to teach at…"

"Explanation please, Vantas," I realized it as soon as it left my mouth. Vantas. "Wait, really? Are you guys related?"

"He's my cousin."

"Whoa." And as I said that, our teacher stood up.

"Alright, class! We have a new student. Karkat Vantas, if you could just come up here." Karkat's body went completely rigid, and he hesitated before sliding awkwardly out of his chair. He stepped up next to the teacher. "Go ahead, introduce yourself."

"Um, I'm Karkat Vantas—," the kid was having trouble, obviously, so I shouted from the back of the class.

"Yo! Kitkat!"

"Do. Not. Call. Me. Kitkat." He crossed his arms, and I smirked at his, giving him double pistols.

"Dave," our teacher warned, "Anyway, Karkat, what do you play?"

"The—uh, the bass."

"Oh, I have one of those right here. Care to play us something?"

"I'd rather not…"

"Aw, come on, Kitkat!" Vriska called up, "Play us something! If you're any good, that is." In an angry determination, Karkat took the bass and slung the strap over his shoulder. Our teacher turned on the amp, and he started playing, and god damn, he was good.

Not only was he good, though, he was passionate. He seemed oddly at place, even though he was small and tiny and the bass was large and oversized. It almost made him seem a little smaller. When he finished, he passed the bass back to the teacher and he went to put the bass away, complimenting Karkat. As he walked back to his seat with his hands in his pockets, Karkat's body tensed up. My guess was going towards he didn't like all the attention, but that'd be dumb. Who doesn't like having an entire classroom cheering them on?


	4. Karkat

God I wish they would shut up. I don't deserve their cheers, why the fuck were they cheering anyway? It's not like I played as well as I could've, those were just some warm up songs. I sat down and waited for them to stop the clapping and occasional whistle. Eventually they stopped, and got their own instruments out, as well as sheet music.

The room filled with the sounds of trumpets, flutes, percussion, and any other instrument in the room. Seriously ,there were way more than back at my other school. What even is that? A clarinet? Looks too big, maybe a bass clarinet? Yeah that sounds right. The person playing it wore a hoodie a few sizes too big for them and had short brown hair that was moved to one side. They don't look like part of the douche bag group, so maybe friend material, or just one of those people I don't need to worry about. Maybe.

The boy next to me was playing the guitar, and was actually pretty good. I recognized what he was playing as a part of 'Hey there Delilah', and it sounded amazing. He had his hair flipped to one side, but the right side instead of the left like the bass clarinet player. Maybe he could help me learn the new music, who knows.

I stood up and walked over to the teacher, trying not to trip on anyone's bags. I finally made it to him and asked about borrowing a bass for the day as well as some music. He smiled at me, and gladly handed me the bass from earlier and two different pieces. One looked a lot harder with all the tempo changes, flats, and dynamics, but nothing that looked like I couldn't figure out in a week or so. I went back to my seat and started site reading the new music, remembering to check any flats and sharps before I start.

The rest of the class flew by, and I didn't really want to face the rest of the day, I'd much rather stay here all day. Ugh. I gave the bass back and promised to bring mine tomorrow. Putting the music sheets into a folder and then stuffing the folder in my bag, I took the list to see what class is next. Social Studies. Hey look, a subject I actually like and can get good grades in. Hopefully Strider isn't in my class again, there is only so much I can take knowing he's in the same class as me. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have him in another class or two- 'no. Seriously? Again? This is like the 7th time in the past two hours. Would you stop thinking about him already?!' I mentally screamed at myself as I walked to my next class in room 612.

The class room was already filled by the time I got in there. No sign of Strider, so there is a plus side to this. I tried to find the teacher in the groups of kids, and as soon as I did I tapped on his back.

"Um, hi, I'm the new student and I was wondering where to sit? Cause I'd like to know where and- oh you have got to be kidding me."

The teacher turned around and showed the smile that I know all too well as the smile that he does when he's faking happiness. "Ah, Karkat! I was wondering if you would get my class. Your parents told mine that your side of our family was going to move over here and that you were going to start school here. I'm so happy that you made it here in time for a project we'll be starting today. Now, of course, this is my class so when you're here you must call me Mr. Vantas, not Kankri. Okay?"

"...yeah."

"Good, you can do sit next to Kanaya, she's the one in the back with the short brown hair and the long red skirt. I expect you to pay attention in this class and to do your homework. I need to start now, so you can go sit down. I'll talk to you this afternoon to get you caught up with everything you need to know as of right now." Kankri walked away after that and left me to go find the seat.

I took my seat and got a journal out when I heard the girl next to me laughing quietly. I turned to her, and she smiled at me. "I'm so sorry you got stuck with a teacher that can run his mouth for hours. Personally, I'm sorry for his parents," she held her hand out to me. "Kanaya Maryam, and you are?"

I took her hand and shook it, "Karkat Vantas. And yeah, I'd feel bad for his parents too. If I thought that they didn't like his ever-lasting speeches as well; but I know for a fact they love them. And trust me, I feel sorry for any one in his classes." She stares at me, then laughs softly again.

"Vantas, hm? I take it you're related to him?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"And I also take it that you dislike him?"

"Very much so. You should see him at family parties, especially holidays. He always has speech's prepared, all about whatever holiday it is and that holidays history and ugh. His parents are the only ones who like them. And every time he comes over he just bursts into my room and starts talking about god knows what. And he doesn't let me leave or talk." I groaned.

"Karkat, Kanaya. If you would please cease your talking and pay attention to what I'm saying, it would greatly benefit your learning." We both turned back to the front, and Kankri began his lecture. It didn't take long into his words before he was interrupted again.

"Hey, excuse me chief," a boy stood up.

"Yes, Cronus?"

"I need to use the bathroom."

"You always use the bathroom at this exact time; I'm beginning to think that you are simply trying to get out of my class."

He shrugged, "My body's on a schedule. It's natural."

Kankri sighed, "Fine. Go, but hurry back."

Kanaya leaned over to me, "That's Cronus Ampora. He's a Senior who was held back like three years. He was going to drop out of highschool to become a musician or something, but his dad is making him stay."

"Isn't he older than eighteen?"

"Yeah, he's Mr. Vantas's age. But his dad was so controlling over him and his brother that he just continues to do whatever his dad tells him to do."

"Damn."

"Karkat, Kanaya. If I have to tell you again to stop talking, then I'm going to give you both detention." I huffed, and Kanaya and I both turned back to his lecture.


	5. Dave

I was walking through the halls, on my way from Chemistry class, when I witnessed a very interesting conversation. Karkat and Kanaya were walking out of class together, and get this: Karkat was laughing. Real, actual, non-sarcastic laughing. Kanaya got him to laugh. "My next class is down that way," he said.

"Oh, I'm the other way. Perhaps we could exchange phone numbers?"

"Yeah, sure. Here, I'll write it down for you." Oh hell no. Hell no, she did not get his number before I did.

When they waved goodbye and went their separate ways, I approached Kanaya. "Oh, hello Dave. How are you?"

"Don't you 'how are you' me, Kanaya. I know what you did."

"And what exactly did I do?"

"Stole Kitkat. I called dibs on him, you can't take him."

"Dave, you can't call dibs on a person."

"Well that's too bad because I did call dibs."

"Dave you can't—"

"Kanaya. I. Called. Dibs."

"So you're telling me not to be his friend?"

"Well I guess you can be friends but he's mine and you can't have him."

"Do you have a crush on him?" She gave me an accusing, yet intrigued, smile.

"What? No."

"You just told me that I can't go out with him because he's 'yours'. I'm pretty sure that means you have a crush on him."

"I'm not that gay man I do not have a crush on Karkat."

"Dave."

"…Okay maybe I have a little crush on Karkat."

"Oh, that's adorable! I simply must tell Nepeta about this."

"No, no. No telling anybody about this okay? I literally just met him today, I don't even know how I feel about him. Look, stay out of this and act like you never heard about that. Just, no stealing Karkat, okay?" I turned to walk away, with Kanaya smiling at me like an idiot.

"Oh, Dave! One more thing."

"What?" I turned back around.

"Your friend, Gamzee, I believe."

"What about him?"

"He's 'stealing' your boy," she pointed down the hall.

I turned around, looking through the crowd. Sure enough, there Gamzee was: his shoulder against the wall, talking to a slightly uncomfortable looking Karkat with that stupid, flirty smirk on his face that meant he had been smoking. I muttered a thanks to Kanaya and began shoving my way through the crowds.


	6. Karkat

I gave Kanaya my number and said good bye, smiling. 'At least now I have a friend,' I thought. I walked down the crowded hallway to my next class, when one of the guys from earlier stopped me; and by stopped me I mean grabbed my arm and pulled me next to the lockers.

"Hey motherfucker," he said, with a ridiculous smirk on his face.

"Let go of me," I tugged my arm away a bit, but he held his grip.

"But I want be the bestest of friends with the new kid," he leaned in closer to my face and I started to get more uncomfortable than I already was, from both his presence and the smell on him.

"Have you been smoking?!" I coughed, trying to make sure that shit wouldn't get into my lungs.

"Maaaaaybe," he grinned, his gaze lazy as he continued to lean in closer. He let go of my sweater and I started to panic. 'Oh shit. Is he going to kiss me? Fuck, I don't even know this kid! Somebody please come and help me oh shit—!'

"Gamzee! Gamzee, whoa, hey let the guy go. Can't you see you're scaring him to death?" Just like that Strider got in between me and the freakishly tall kid. His arms are stretched out, trying to protect me.

"Aw, I was just having some motherfucking fun, no harm done," he leaned back, away from me and slipped his hands into his pockets.

"Have you smoked recently?"

"…..uh," he hesitated.

"Gamzee."

"….yes." he looked guilty, probably because of the stare down he was getting from Dave.

"Go find Tavros, he can get you to calm down; and don't try to kiss anyone else, got it?"

"Yeah Davebro, I got it," he turned away and started walking into the flow of kids. Dave turned around, looking at me.

"You okay dude? Gamzee can act a bit weird when he does that, and you looked pretty freaked out for a second," he actually talked to me and wasn't a douche about it.

"I'm fine, I didn't need your help," I felt my face get hot and turned away, hoping he didn't see.

"You sure?" I nodded and turned to walk away, only thinking about how I blew my chances with him, but he grabbed my arm to turn me around to face him. I winced.

"You're not going to try and kiss me too right? Does anyone actually give a fuck about personal space here?" Dave let my arm go as soon as I mentioned personal space.

"You wish I would kiss you, but no, I just wanted to know if you needed help to your next class," damn, I did wish. Why do I wish that? No, fuck that, he can keep his kisses to himself.

"No, chemistry is just down the hall; I think I got it."

"Gimme your schedule," he held his hand out.

"What? Why?"

"Just give it," I glared at him, but gave it to him anyway and he scanned over it. I wished he'd show more emotion, I couldn't read his face at all.

"Okay, looks like we have 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th period together, plus homeroom. Okay, we got to get to our next class; see you in PE, Kitkat," he disappeared into the crowd before I could deny that nick-name.

I banged my head on the locker nearest to me before walking to class. 'Why am I such a fucking idiot? Be probably thinks I'm too much of an asshole to like now, dammit.'

I got to the next class and walked up to the teacher, introduced myself, found my seat, and tried to forget about my fuck-up with Dave. That wasn't a problem, though, because as soon as I sat down this jumpy boy next to me started talking.

"Hey! You're Karkat right? You walked by our group this morning and introduced yourself but then left so suddenly after, which is too bad because you should have stayed and talked with us—,"

"Holy shit, shut your trap; yes I'm Karkat, who the hell are you?" He giggled and stuck his hand out in front of me.

"Oops, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm John!" he grinned brightly and I shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, I guess."


	7. Dave

I walked away from Karkat, heading towards my history class, which I shared with Jade. She had apparently been having trouble with that class, though, because she started shutting me out entirely whenever we were in there, which meant she was no help with distracting me from the terror that was a history lecture about something stupid like how heroic Columbus was. Since history lessons were probably the most boring thing on the planet, but I wasn't allowed to sleep, I just stared blankly at the board as my teacher spoke, not thinking about anything.

That is, I wasn't thinking about anything. And then I started thinking about—guess who—Karkat. It was weird. I met him that day, and as much as it's not unnatural for me to meet and become friends with somebody in less than a day, it was weird that I was so…protective over him, I guess. I got this weird feeling every time somebody else got close to him, like I didn't want them to take him away from me. This was how it was when I first met John, actually. I liked him as way more than a friend for a while, but his whole 'I'm not a homosexual' thing always fucked me over, and then he came out as aromantic.

But basically, Karkat was turning out to be a repeat of John. I met him, I suddenly started liking him too much, and soon he would reveal a reason that we could never be together and it would probably destroy me inside. But the idea of him just seemed so…amazing.

Not even the kind of teenager things that most highschoolers would imagine. Just having him sitting with me and playing videogames, or cuddling while watching Netflix, maybe taking him out to dinner or, hell, even making him food. I sat there for an entire period, imagining stupid, cute little things about Karkat and me. I hardly even noticed when the bell rang, sending everyone into a "hurry and get to the lunchroom" frenzy.

I stood up, quickly swinging my backpack over my shoulder and walking up to Jade, who was rushing to get her notebook and pencils away. "I swear, Harley, you are the only person in this entire class who actually takes notes on the lectures."

"I guess that means I'm gonna be the only one who's gonna pass then," she stood up, zipping her backpack.

"I'm holding up a pretty solid C+ here, it's not that hard," I said, and she lightly punched my shoulder.

"Hey, I'm trying my best! I have to stay on the cheerleading team now that I'm the co-captain, and that means all A's and B's." We walked out of the classroom and were in the lunchroom in no time, walking to our groups' usual booth. Gamzee and Sollux both had first lunch, so it was always Jade, John, Vriska, and me. This time, though, there was another person. None other than Karkat Vantas himself was sitting right where I usually did.

Instead of complaining like I would if it were anybody else, I slid in next to him. His body tensed up slightly when I sat down, making the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about him even worse than it already was, because he obviously couldn't stand having me around. "Hey, Kitkat."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is the last chapter we have so far. Sorry its so short!


	8. Chapter 8

I was eating my lunch, which Egbert so kindly invited me to, trying to forget about Dave when he sits down, a bit too close for comfort. Of course. I tensed up a bit out of reflex. “Hey Kitkat,” he greeted. I looked up at him.  
“Hey strider; stop calling me that.”  
“No can do,” he gave me that annoyingly attractive smirk.  
I groaned. “You’re impossible.”  
“Thank you,” he replied. I went back to eating, not wanting to look at him in the face in case I ended up staring again. When I glanced at him, I swore I saw disappointment coating his usual poker face. He looked at John and started talking.   
“Egbert, we still hanging out after school?”  
“Yeah! I might have to leave early, cause of homework, but yeah totally,” John replied with a dorky smile.   
“Nerd,” Dave joked. I took a sip of my drink, watching them talk with slight interest.  
“I am not a nerd, I just happen to actually care about my grades,” he crossed his arms.  
“Like I said, nerd. You could always just get Sollux to do it, I’m sure he’d be happy to,” my eyes widened and I almost spit out my drink. I choked. ‘Did he say Sollux? As in Sollux captor?’ Dave looked at me as I choked, raising an eyebrow. “You okay, dude?”  
“Did you just say Sollux? As in Sollux fucking Captor?” I asked, ignoring his question. Both of them looked a bit confused.  
“Uh, yeah. You know him?” John answered and I had to keep myself from cursing.  
“Yeah, I know him. He’s my best friend; I just didn’t know what he looked like.”  
“…How is that possible?” John inquired.   
“We met online a couple years ago and shit happened, we were literally talking last night why didn’t he tell me?” They shrugged.  
“Was he in your group this morning?” They nodded. “Okay so he knows I’m here, God I fucking bet he was the one with different colored lenses on his glasses,” they nodded again. “Perfect, my best friends a total nerd,” Dave laughed slightly, but when I looked at him he looked a bit sad. I probably just imagined it, wanting to give some emotion to the stoic prick. He probably didn’t even care, why would he? He’s just some popular douche, and for some reason that’s enough for me. Enough to think about what it’d be like to curl up with him, watching a movie and laughing at that one person who can’t act for their life. Yeah, that’d be nice. It’d never happen, of course, but I want it to. Maybe if I hope enough it will. ‘No, shut up Vantas. He’s a dick and probably has never thought about it, and won’t ever think about it with someone like you. And stop staring at his face idiot!’ I looked away as soon as I realized I was staring at him, hoping he didn’t notice.  
The bell rang shortly after, and I stood up, moving to walk to my next class. I didn’t look behind me at my would-be crush but I heard him talking to John, or maybe one of the others sitting over there. I couldn’t hear what he said, but the words ‘Kitkat’ and ‘fucker’ stood out and I walked faster.  
I walked to my next class quickly, thinking about Dave and how it would never happen, and how I should just give up while I’m ahead. I was still thinking about him when I walking into the locker room, with my head down. I wasn’t paying attention and I ran straight into the chest of a tall, skinny boy. Great job me, gold star for utter stupidity. I apologized quickly and looked up at whoever it was I ran into. “Sorry about that, my mind was off in goddamn Neverland or something—Sollux?!”  
“Sup KK, or should I say carcinoGeneticist,” he spoke with a horrendous lisp and a smirk that rivaled Striders, lifting up those stupid glasses to rest on the top of his head.  
“I should smack you for not telling me you went to this school,” I held back the small smile that was trying to force its way onto my face.  
“You never asked,” he shrugged. “I should smack you for not telling me you were moving,” he walked over to his locker, unlocking it and grabbing his P.E. clothes. “Who’s really at fault here?”  
“Ugh, just stop, it’s you, you’re at fault. We were talking last night and I’m pretty damn sure I mentioned it.”  
“Well sorry for not listening to you as I beat your fucking ass at Call of Duty,” he replied smugly.  
“You’re not the least bit sorry.”  
“I’m really not, you suck at games.”  
“Yeah, yeah, just shut up. I need to talk to the teacher,” I walked away from him, going to find the teacher. I saw Dave walking into the locker room. I sighed, walking up to the teacher and asking about a lock and P.E. clothes.  
He gave me an extra lock and an empty locker, along with a pair of obnoxiously blue shorts and a horrendously bright orange shirt. I thanked him quietly, walking to the locker he gave me and mentally groaning when I noticed it was right next to Dave’s. It seemed the universe was determined to force me into awkward situations that would make me think of Dave even more. Goddamn it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter should be up soon!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's very short but hey whatcha gonna do

After the bell rang, Karkat shoved his way out and quickly walked away. I couldn’t help but be disappointed. “So,” I said to John, “Sollux already knew Kitkat. That lucky fucker.”   
“Lucky? How so?”  
‘Shit’ “I just mean that he already got to meet the guy. He seems cool, doesn’t he?”  
“I guess. He seems kind of pissy to me.”  
“That just adds to his character type,” I said with a shrug, before the two of us stood up and started the walk to our next classes. John began to babble about a movie or something, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was thinking about Karkat, honestly. I felt like I was getting too attached too soon. I mean, I had just met the guy. I didn’t believe in love at first sight, and I refused to believe that that was what was happening here. Besides, he obviously hated me. If you were to ignore the abundance of times that I caught him staring at me, that is.   
John and I said our goodbyes as we separated, him walking to his next classroom and me heading towards the locker rooms. When I got in there, I noticed from the corner of my eye that Karkat was walking towards the teacher. I shrugged a bit to myself, going to unlock my locker. A moment later, Karkat walked next to me with his head down and opened the locker to my right.   
I looked at him for a moment as he set his stuff down before turning so I wasn’t staring and quickly slipping my shirt over my head. I could feel his eyes look over at me, but I didn’t return his stare. I glanced at him as I put my gym shirt on. He turned his head quickly, his entire face red. I smirked in victory as I quickly changed my pants and slipped on the shorts. I closed my locker and sat down. Karkat started to take his shirt off, and it took every bit of mental strength I had to keep myself from watching him change. Apparently it wasn’t enough, because my gaze easily shifted to him.  
I focused on the curve of his back, and how soft his skin looked. Once he unbuckled his belt his baggy pants sagged down a bit to hang loosely on his hips, showing the brim of his underwear. Suddenly there was a shirt covering his top half, hanging down long enough to cover the brim of his pants. Karkat cleared his throat.   
I looked up at his bright red face. “Can I help you?” He asked, crossing his arms.  
“I don’t know,” I tried to cover up the situation with a joke, “Are you able to go get me some Starbucks?” My face suddenly felt uncomfortably hot, and he raised an eyebrow.   
“Hurry up man you had a really nice show going on there,” I leaned back a bit, still desperately trying to make the situation a little less awkward.  
He scoffed. “You’re unbelievable.”  
“I pride myself in being the least easy person in all of Texas to believe.”   
He stared at me for a second, before quickly changing into his shorts and slamming his locker shut. He didn’t wait for me to stand up before he started walking, and I had to jog a bit to catch up to him, he walked surprisingly fast for such a short-legged boy. He made it very obvious that I had just fucked everything up. But then again, he seemed to change his mind a lot from what I had seen today.


	10. Chapter 10: Karkat

Oh my god he’s taking his shirt off. Oh my fucking god he’s hotter than I thought he was. Oh my god he’s- he’s covered in almost as many scars as I am. All over Dave’s chest and sides were long, thin scars. None of them looked deep, or at least not as deep as most of mine were. His looked nice, and like they were meant to be there. Most of them were too thick to be from a razor blade and too long to be from a knife, so they didn’t look self-inflicted which was good. I contemplated asking him about it. He put his shirt on and looked at me. I turned away quickly, blushing when I realized I had been checking him out. He finished changing quickly and sat down.  
I slowly took off my own shirt, wincing at the pain that was still in my arm, and the gash on my side that was thankfully on the other side, so Dave couldn’t see it from where he was. I shoved my shirt in my locker before taking my belt off and shoving it in with the shirt. I grabbed the horrid bright orange shirt and put in on as quickly as I could with my arm still sore. I turned to Dave, who had obviously been watching me, and hoped that he hadn’t noticed any of my scars. I cleared my throat to get his attention. “Can I help you?” I asked, crossing my arms.  
“I don’t know, are you able to get me some Starbucks?” He was blushing slightly, and it was honestly pretty adorable to see it on him. I raised an eyebrow, though whether it was from the Starbucks comment or the blush I don’t know. “Hurry up man you had a really nice show going on there,” he leaned back against the lockers and I scoffed, a bit glad he didn’t seem to have noticed any of the scars.  
“You’re unbelievable.”  
“I pride myself in being the least easy person in all of Texas to believe.” I stared at him for a moment, trying to convince myself that that’s actually what he said, before taking off my pants and quickly pulling on the shorts, throwing the pants into the locker and slamming the door shut. I walked away from him and towards the doors to the gym, half expecting him not to follow. A couple seconds later, he jogged up next to me. Maybe I wasn’t fucking up all that much. If he still put up with me, that was a good sign, right?  
“Alright everyone, find a partner and start passing the basketball to each other,” I sat down in the spot the teacher/coach gave me, listening to him drone on about what he expected to see in the new unit, and how to get an A and a whole bunch of other shit. He dismissed us to find partners and I glanced at Dave at the other side of the class, and then Sollux, next to me on the other side. About 6 girls and 5 boys jumped up and ran over to Dave, all asking for him to be their partner. I looked away as he began to decline offers, and instead looked to Sollux, who stood up and walked over to two kids; one with so much fucking hair that there was practically a trail of it behind her, and the other a boy with glasses and his hair slicked up with a purple streak right in the middle. Thank you Sollux, for abandoning me to find a partner that I don’t even know.  
I could hear girls whining behind me. “Why does he get to be Dave’s partner? That’s not even fair!” I turned to see who the lucky winner was when I saw Dave sitting right next to me. It was me; I was the “lucky” winner.  
“So, Kitkat, wanna be my partner?” He looked at me, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips, so small that I can barely see it.  
“What about that girl over there who’s in tears that she isn’t graced with your stoic presence?” I asked, glancing at a girl who was making a scene.  
“Her? Not my type,” he shrugged.  
“Then what is your type?”  
“Short boys that I can call Kitkat.” I rolled my eyes.  
“Would you stop calling me that? God.”  
“I told you, no can do. You are Kitkat now. Say goodbye to your regular name, I’ve changed it to Kitkat.”  
“…..wow, fuck you, Strider.”  
“Not ‘til the third date.” I blushed slightly and flicked his forehead. “Hey, you said it,” the teacher looked at us and I stood up, walking over to grab a basketball. He followed me and once I found one that wasn’t deflated I threw it at him, walking over to a corner that no one else seemed to be in. He threw it back and I attempted to catch it with the arm that wasn’t busted. It worked, surprisingly, but hit my side, right on the corner of the gash and I winced, biting back any noise.  
Dave walked up closer, probably noticing my split second of agony. “You okay?” He asked, and I nodded.  
“Yeah, I’m fine. You just threw it too hard.” Please let that lie work please let that lie work please don’t see right through it.  
“Then I’ll throw it lighter next time, will that make you happy?” I detected sarcasm in his voice but it he seemed like he bought it. Fuck yeah. I nodded at him again and threw it at his face. He caught it and passed it back correctly. Using the busted arm hurt like a bitch, but I used it to make it look like I was fine. We continued passing it back and forth in silence, and after a couple minuets I decided to bring up his scars.  
“You um,” I started, a bit hesitantly. “Had a lot of scars. What happened?” He shrugged like it was no big deal.  
“I sword fight a lot, and you can’t do that kind of shit without getting cut once and a while.” Sword fighting. Okay that’s pretty cool. Even for him.  
“Huh, that’s pretty fitting.”  
“What do you mean?”  
I shrugged. “It fits you, you look like the sort of guy who would sword fight.”  
“It runs in the family,” he shrugged again.   
Our coach blew his whistle loudly, shouting to go to the locker rooms. Dave threw the ball back into the bin and started the walk to the locker room. I followed close behind him, struggling a bit to keep up with his fast pace.   
I hated to admit it, but I could not wait to be back in that locker room. Dave was hot and I fully intended to see him shirtless again. ‘Oh, God. Why did I think that. Let’s pretend that thought never happened ever.’   
We went straight to our lockers, and Dave’s shirt was off before he even had his locker open. It was almost like he was showing off; he probably was. What an asshole. He opened his locker, slipping his shirt on and starting to undo his pants. I forced myself to look away, unlocking my locker quickly and quickly taking my shirt off. I could feel gaze on me, and it took everything I had not to snap at him. It also took everything I had not to kiss him. ‘Ugh, what the hell is it with this guy? One minute I want to punch him, the next I want to kiss him. I’ve only known him for one fucking day, am I really that goddamn desperate?’


	11. Chapter 11: Dave

Kitkat was adorable. He was adorable, and small, and he was making English class hard. I was supposed to be writing notes on the lecture, but instead I was staring at him. He was positioned perfectly in the room for me to stare at him, and at first I was very grateful for that. But now I just couldn’t look away.   
So here I was, my cheek in my hand, staring at him and thinking very gay things. Not like, sexy times kind of gay, I had gone past that kind attraction (sort of). Now I was thinking about waking up next to him in the morning, and how cute his bed head would probably be. I was thinking about kissing him over a table at a restaurant, or walking around at parks. Hell, I was thinking about doing that cheesy arm-swinging thing that couples did while walking and holding hands. 

Goddamn, what was up with him? He was like a drug or something. This one day felt like months, but not in a bad way. I felt like I was going to be sitting up all night now, thinking about this small, angry little dweeb. Ugh. 

I guess that I dozed off, because my arm slipped and I slammed my face into my desk. That caught his attention, or rather everybody in class’s attention, and there was a wave of barely compressed laughter throughout the classroom. When I glanced back at Karkat, he had his hand over his mouth, and his shoulders were shaking with silent laughter. Goddamn, he’s too cute. It isn’t fair. 

I turned away to hide my embarrassment, but when I glanced back at Karkat, he was still staring. He had this dreamy look in his eyes, and his lips were tugging up into a small smile. When he noticed that I was looking the smile disappeared and his cheeks turned pink. He turned away quickly, and I couldn't help but smile. He was so cute. 

"David," the teacher practically shrieked. "Do I need to move you away from Karkat?" 

"No, ma'am. It'd be best if you moved him closer."

I heard Karkat bang his head against his desk. I felt sort of guilty, he didn't seem like he liked attention much. 

The teacher tapped her foot impatiently. "You know how I feel about people disrupting my class, Mr. Strider."

"That I do, ma'am." I heard the ripple of laughter from my classmates.

"Then I'm sure you know that I am very strict and unforgiving about it?" 

"I hate to point this out, ma'am, but you're the one stopping the lesson to yell at me for staring at someone."

She looked infuriated. "Do I need to send you out, sir?"

"Me, sir? No, sir." I doubted anyone would get the reference. Nobody paid any attention to Romeo and Juliet. It was a dumb story anyway.

She sighed and went back to the lesson. I turned to look at Karkat, only to find that he was already looking at me. Or rather, glaring at me. I mouthed "what". 

"You," he mouthed back, "are a dick." He turned away, huffing. 

The small jolt of panic startled me. I was honestly afraid he was mad at me. I did cause a lot of attention towards him, but I didn't think it would bug him. After all, most of the attention was on me. 

I desperately wanted him to like me. It was weird. Usually I was the one having people gush over me and try anything to catch my attention. I didn't know what to think of it. I couldn't be in love with him, because love at first sight was bullshit and I didn't know him well enough to love him.

But saying that I wasn't attracted to him would be a huge lie, because I definitely wanted him in multiple ways. He was adorable, but he was also hot. And I suspected that he'd be very loud in bed, due to all of his shouting. But anytime I started to think about something like that, it automatically went to the bit that comes after. Falling back onto the bed, smiling at each other and cuddling close together. 

I wished he would look at me again. I wanted to see his face, not just the back of his head. He seemed determined not to look at me, though. I had to wonder if I had actually upset him somehow. All I had done was stare at him, after all. He didn't really have a reason to be mad at me.


	12. Chapter 12: Karkat

The bell rang, signaling that class was over, and I shoved the rest of my things into my backpack. Once that was done I grabbed my bag, stood up, and walked out of the class room. I looked over my shoulder at Dave. He was already looking at me, or at least as far as I could tell with those stupid sunglasses in the way. I looked away quickly, walking towards the front of the school to get out and back home. 'Goddamnit,' I thought. 'Why did he have to bring me into his fight with the teacher?' I kept my head down, watching my shoes as I walked. 'At least he wanted to be closer to me? But I really don’t need the whole fucking class looking at me at once; now they'll comment and tease and oh shit, Dave why??' I walked faster, not wanting to have any more attention on myself.   
After I was far enough from school I looked back up, following the path I walked earlier that morning to get to school. My mind drifted from the classmates to the teachers, and then to Dave. I was thinking about hiding behind him from bullies, or just sitting close to him, smiling, laughing, having fun. He seemed great, though his personality made it hard not to punch him. Why does a guy as great as him have to act like such an asshole? No one will ever know. Well, he did at least seem to like me as a friend. I mean, I didn’t even know if he swung this way. If he was straight I’d have to kiss all my little happy thoughts with him good bye as they drown in the depths of all this fuckin- I stopped, realizing that my phone had just stopped my brain from jumping off the deep end. I fished it out of my pocket, hoping to fucking God that it wasn’t Dad.

“Heey karklez, how's your new school? I bet its totally lame and you'll come back to Cali to hang out with me again! Am I right or am I right? >;]” 

I smiled; it was just Terezi. She had been my best friend since preschool, when she stole my crab plush and ending up giving it back the next day with apology chocolate and the promise of being friends. She was weird. 

“You fucking wish, obviously now that im gone that school is lame and you'll track me down to, I dunno, tackle me or say that im right. Or both.” 

“Nah, I mean id love to track you down and tackle you but school got like 69% peppier without all your moping.” 

“Wow, so mature tez. Using 69 instead any other goddamn number.” 

“>;]” 

“Okay besides you being a goddamn fucker, hows life? Its been like two weeks without a vantas in your life, im worried about how you’re holding up.” 

“Hey! Thats fucking rude, asshole. You should be nice to your ONLY friend.” 

“Oh, you’re going to talk to me about being rude? I'll have you know I made multiple friends today so fuck you.” 

“In your dreams. Im holding up just fine. Stealing school computers at break and playing video games, using my amazing girly charms to make people buy me ice cream at lunch, and of course, drawing all the amazing dragons.” 

“Wow why am I not surprised. And what “girly charms”? You have as much girly charms as I had sleep last night. I didn't sleep last night." 

“Someone's crabby today."

“Shut the fuck up, you always say im crabby."

“Mhm. Okay now you. You made friends?"

“Yeah, actually. So you can stop saying you’re my only friend. There’s this girl named Kanaya that shares KANKRIS class with me and she's really nice. She's also funny and smart so I like her. There’s also Dave, who's basically a douche but he's hot and we share four goddamn classes."

“Wow kat, you've been busy. So you gonna ask this hot douche out or what? COM3 ON, D3T41LS."

“Stop that weird shit with your lettering, and fuck no. I just met him today."

“1 C444NT STOP, 444ND 111 WON'T STOP!"

“You ass.” 

“You love me."

“Sadly."

“>:O” 

“Fine, I love you as much as I can plationically.” 

“Hehe, okay <3” 

“I’m rolling my eyes at you.” 

I smiled a little wider; she was a nerd, but I did love her. She was my best friend and I could count on her for anything. I looked up from my phone and realized that I was almost home. 

“I’m almost home, ill talk to you in a couple hours, alright?” 

It took her a second to reply. “Yeah okay. Be safe, okay? Don't get yourself too badly hurt.” 

“I wont, ill talk to you soon tezzie.” 

“You too, karklez."

I put my phone away and walked up to the house, praying to whatever God that might be listening that he wasn’t home. The door was unlocked, which wasn’t a good sign, and I pushed the door open, cautiously looking around. The coast looked clear so I hurriedly got inside, closing the door behind me before trying to run to the safety of my room. 

That turned out to be a horrible idea. Someone grabbed the collar of my sweater and threw me back against the door. I bit my lip slightly, looking up at my dad, Jack Noir. He glared at me and I gulped. This wasn’t going to end well for me


	13. Dave

Karkat wouldn’t talk to me for the next week. I wondered if it had something to do with the black eye he was sporting, or just because he didn’t like me. He changed gym partners, moved seats, and even sat alone at lunch. I didn’t get it, he seemed fine with me before, what changed his mind?   
Another week went by. I noticed that he was still hanging out with John, but every time I tried to bring him up John would get all cagey, and say that Karkat didn’t like being talked about. It was so fucking infuriating. This was why I tried not to get close to people. After one day of knowing him I practically fell in love with him, and now he wouldn’t even look at me. 

After another week went by, I got sick of it. During music class (our teacher didn’t care what we did so long as we knew how to play the over simplified music he would give us) I got up, left Vriska, and sat next to him. He jumped, looking at me with slightly widened eyes. The first thing I noticed was the cut on his lip. “What happened?” 

“What do you mean?” He tried not to look me in the eyes. 

“Your lip.”

“It’s none of your fucking business, go away.”

“Why’d you stop talking to me?”

“Because you’re annoying.”

“Really? You didn’t seem to care about that before.”

“‘Before’ only lasted one day.”

“So?”

“One day isn’t enough time to decide if you like someone.”

“I think it is.”

“I think you should shut up and go away,” he practically growled. 

“I don’t see why you’re so determined to not be my friend.”

“I already told you, you’re annoying. I don’t want to talk to you.” 

“I don’t believe that.”

“Why do you want to be my friend anyway?” 

“Because I like you.” 

He scoffed. “Sure you do.”

“Of course I do, I thought that was obvious.” 

“No, you want to embarrass me in front of the entire class. You’ve done it already.” 

“What? When?”

“Remember when you pulled me into your shitty argument with the teacher? Nobody would shut up about it. Everyone kept asking me if we were dating, and then they would whisper about it in the back of the class. If hanging out with you means shit like that’s gonna keep happening, then I’m not going to hang out with you.” He stood up before I could reply, walking up to the teacher to say something before leaving the classroom. I watched him go, standing up and rejoining Vriska to listen to her complain about all the problems in her relationship with John. I decided not to talk to Karkat again. He obviously didn’t want me around, he had even started changing in the bathroom instead of the locker room. 

And then he sat next to me at lunch. The rest of my squad had stood up to get food, so it was just the two of us. He refused to look at me, which was a mistake because I was about to make the dorkiest smile ever. “‘M sorry,” he muttered. “I do wanna hang out.” 

And there it was. The dumbass smile. I nodded, “That’s great, because I hate to leave things awkward between me and someone who’s hanging out with half of my friends.” He looked up at me and the smile disappeared into a small, barely visible smirk. 

“I’m hanging out with two of your friends.”

“Three. John, Sollux, and Jade.”

“I’m not hanging out with Jade?”

“Judging by the way she talks about you, yes you are. But that doesn’t matter, if you’re friends with me your friends with all of us.”

“Not Vriska. I’m not friends with her.”

“You will be eventually.” 

“I doubt it.” 

The rest of them joined us, starting a long conversation about how Karkat was one of us now (which also led to John chanting “one of us”, what a nerd). I was glad that Karkat had come around, even if it took him almost a month to do so. But I still wanted to know what was up with the cut on his lip.


	15. Karkat

"Yeah, yeah, I’m bringing him the yellow abomination now." I held my phone in between my shoulder and my ear as I turned the mustard yellow dragon doll over in my hands. A red and a blue button were used for the eyes, so it matched Sollux's hideous glasses perfectly.   
"Hey! I take pride in that dragon." 

"Uh-huh. How did you even sow this? Or get the colors right-honestly are you sure you’re actually blind?" She laughed as I walked toward the group. I quickly spotted Sollux, shouting a quick “heads up" before chucking the doll at him.

"I may have gotten some help with the colors, but I am the master of making scalemates."

"Considering you’re the one that came up with the design, I should fucking hope so," I said as I sat down next to Sollux, watching as he turned it over in his hands, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

"Oh, and tell him its name Mayor Appleberry."

"Mayor of what? Douches?"

"Ha ha, very funny." I rolled my eyes and put the phone down to talk to the other nerd sitting next to me.

"Tez says its name is Applebery Shitlord." 

"Right, of course. It’s perfect, I’ll put it with all the bees she’s made me." 

"Bees plural? How many has she made you?"

"22," he replied simply before taking the phone from me and starting to talk to her; the fucker didn’t even ask first. 

"Yeah okay, go right ahead and use my phone. It’s perfectly fucking fine, you asshole," he flipped me off, but turned on speaker.

"-ayor Appleberry, don’t trust whatever Karkles said."

"Hey, Shitlord is a much better title." 

Sollux laughed under his breath, "Excuse you guys, it’s my dragon, I get to name it."

"No, i made it and it already has a name."

"Mayor Appleberry is a shitty name, Tez," I scoffed.

"Fuck off."

"Rude," I crossed my arms, before remembering something I had planned to ask. "Oh, are you guys still coming next weekend? Like, all the plans are set in stone?"

"Yeah! It’s all Latula’s been talking about; she has some pretty weird date ideas, let me tell you."

"Same, MT has only talked about how much they’re going to make out. Please get here sooner and put an end to my suffering," he buried his face in the dragon and I patted his back lightly. 

"So we can ditch them easily, me and Beelord here have been talking about all the places to take you to while you’re here. There are a couple of game stores that sell these really fucking detailed dragons, which we think you’ll like,” I said, ignoring Sollux’s suffering remark.

"Aww, Karkles! Don’t tell me that, now I’m going to spend all my money there." 

"Mhm." There was a sound in the distance from her end.

She spoke quickly. "Okay, class is starting. Love you, Karkles; love you too, Thhhoollluxx," she hung up before he could retort and before i could shout ‘platonically’ at her. God, she’s such a nerd. I put my phone in my pocket and leaned back against the wall. 

"Karkat!” Jade practically shouted, “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend! C'mon, tell us, what’s she like?" Both she and John were bouncing in front of me like eager puppies. I stared at them with an expression that perfectly conveyed how confused I felt.

"...what?" I looked over at Dave for an explanation, but he was looking away; he looked sad? I think? It’s always hard to tell with him. 

"The girl you were on the phone with! You two obviously are dating."

"...no?" Sollux burst out laughing, holding himself as he doubled over with laughter. "You two are idiots. Tez and I aren't dating."

"Yeah, but they did. God, I remember when you con-," I slapped a hand over Sollux’s mouth, blushing more than I would like to have admitted to.

"Don’t you fucking dare, you swore never to speak about that ever so don’t you fucking dare." He laughed behind my hand and nodded, pushing my hand away. 

"So, you aren’t dating the person that was on the phone?" John asked, sounding disappointed.

"Fuck no, we're just friends. But we're best friends, that’s why she said that."

"Oh, okay," Jade was obviously not prepared to be wrong, because she was pouting.

"Yeah." The bell rang and I stood up, looking at Sollux. "Have fun with Mayor Shitlord all day."

"I will. Also, its name is Appleberry Beelord," he said, turning away.

"Fucking amazing," I muttered sarcastically, before turning to Dave and walking up to him so the two of us could head to class together.


End file.
